Has Theresa May betrayed the North?
POST-Brexit economic uncertainty and a new Prime Minister with changing policies for a ‘British Powerhouse’ mean that now more than ever the voice of Northern business must be heard.
Despite Prime Minister Theresa May appointing Andrew Percy, the MP for Brigg and Goole, as the new Northern Powerhouse minister to replace James Wharton, there are strong signs that she intends to shift economic policy away from bridging the north/south productivity gap, instead focussing on a broader redistribution of the economy away from London and the South East.
At the first meeting of the new Cabinet Committee on Economy and Industrial Strategy on Tuesday, May again avoided any mention of the Northern Powerhouse and instead stressed the Government should focus on delivering “an economy that works for all”.
May’s refusal to endorse the Northern Powerhouse agenda is leading to increasing uncertainty about the policy’s future in Whitehall, which says she is “extending the Northern Powerhouse idea rather than ditching it”.
Shadow home secretary Andy Burnham – who is MP for Leigh and is seeking the Labour candidacy for mayor of Greater Manchester – calls it a betrayal and has urged May to guarantee that plans for the Northern Powerhouse remain.
Burnham has warned that scrapping the Northern Powerhouse, first mooted by former chancellor George Osborne just over two years ago, would be “the biggest betrayal of people in the North of England since Margaret Thatcher tore the heart out of many of its industrial communities in the 1980s”.
He added: “As the recent EU Referendum result showed, those communities feel abandoned by Westminster. The right response, surely, is to improve the promises that have been made to them, not abandon them.”
The fact remains that there needs to be a fundamental rebalancing of the UK’s economy and much of that needs to happen around the North West, Yorkshire and the North East.
The North of England has a GVA of £290bn – that needs to be boosted by £44bn so that it matches GVA across the rest of the country.
There has never been a road map from Government on the best way to breach this productivity gap – but there had at least been a willingness to listen to those in local government about what their city region needs and, through devolution deals, to give over to local control greater decision making powers and budgetary control.
Devolution has given many city regions across the North the opportunity to take greater control of their purse strings and long-term strategy. The devolution deals that have already been struck are enshrined in law but with the continued political will for the Northern growth agenda looking uncertain, now more than ever those businesses that will drive the growth must make their voices heard.
Today is your last opportunity to complete our three minute survey, the results of which could help to form the agenda for the new era.
We are asking our readers in both the North West and Yorkshire for your opinions on the issues that matter to your business and what needs to be done to help your business grow, improve productivity and create more investment and opportunity across the North of England.
This is your chance to tell us how the Northern growth agenda affects your business and what you need to grow and prosper.
The survey can be completed here
Once complete, we will gather the data and use the insight to highlight the issues you think should be the focus of the new set up.
We will also be staging a series of round table discussion where business leaders and sector experts will debate the findings and deliver their verdict on how the new economic structure should look.
The details will then be published on our website and in a supplement in the autumn.
